During the coronavirus period, several large shopping centers in Tallinn decided to close their shops early on Sunday, but the temporary change became permanent and other shops followed the same path, most recently Tartu Lõunakeskus. As justification, merchants cite shop owners’ desire to save on labor costs and find employees more easily.
Tartu Lõunakeskus has reduced shop opening hours from 9pm to two hours earlier on Sunday 7 January. Marju Jeedas, the centre’s managing director, told the ERR that the reason is mainly the desire to make it easier to find and retain employees.
“The initiative was born from the desire of the shopkeepers themselves to reduce working hours on Sunday evenings. Since attendance on Sunday evenings was lower than on other evenings, it was decided to shorten this period of time as well”, explains Jeedas .
According to Jeedas, the change helps motivate the center’s employees and also helps find and retain them more easily.
Tallinn’s Ülemiste Center reduced its Sunday opening hours in 2020, when it was initially done due to coronavirus restrictions, but in the same summer it was decided to make the change permanent. The decision of the Tallinna Kristiine Center and the Rocca al Mare Center to close their doors on Sundays as early as 7pm was also taken during the Covid crisis.
The director of Kristiine and Rocca al Mare, Kristjan Maaroos, said that after the temporary reduction the number of visitors was analyzed and since it was also suitable for tenants, it was decided to keep it permanently.
“Sunday evenings are a very quiet time,” Maaroos explained. “After all, in recent years the cost of labor for all tenants has increased, the price of each opening hour has increased for the tenant, we really need to see if it pays off. This is the reason for the decision. On the other hand, as a shopping centre, we want all tenants to be open at the same time, so that if a customer comes in, then they know it’s open – we can’t have everyone controlling when to close.”
On the last day of the week, shops close even earlier, for example in the Tartu department store, Tallinn Viru Center and Ülemiste Center.
Maaroos believes the cost side is also why competitors close shops in centers earlier one evening a week. At the same time, grocery stores in these centers will also remain open until late in the day.
“Grocery stores live by their own regime,” Maaroos said. “It seems that in Estonia there is so much competition that no one dares to take this step (shortening opening hours – ed.), they look at the customer’s comfort.”
The financial statements for last year from the Kristiine center and Rocca al Mare are still being processed and according to Maaroosi it is therefore not possible to say with greater precision what the results were, but he confirms that the effects of the economic recession have not escaped the shopping even centers.
“Fashion products are those that have suffered the greatest pressure in terms of sales. Here there is certainly also a question of purchasing power: people are perhaps more aware and choose more about what they buy. Mood-shopping“but it is less,” said Maaroos, who confirmed that no further changes to the centres’ opening hours are expected in the near future.
According to Marju Jeedas, in the last year the number of visitors to Tartu Lõunakeskus increased by 16%, while last year it was 6.2 million.
2024-01-09 03:02:00
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